


Dalamud

by KivaEmber



Category: Final Fantasy XIV, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Crossover, Gen, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mindfuck, Primals (Final Fantasy XIV), Psychological Horror, Survival Horror, Tempering (Final Fantasy XIV), The Dark Side of the Force, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:20:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21652909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivaEmber/pseuds/KivaEmber
Summary: Was it Sith? What little interaction he had with those Darksiders hadn’t felt like this, though. There had been mortal malice mixed in their anger, a pettiness and viciousness only a sentient could feel. This felt deeper, like staring into the dark spaces between the stars for too long: Endless. Cold. Empty.Or;A mysterious artificial moon appears without warning over a strategically important planet during the Clone Wars. The 212st investigate.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 54





	Dalamud

Obi-Wan stared at the eerie, half-broken moon drifting aimlessly in the orbit of Thater. Normally, such a sight wouldn’t be too strange in this day and age. With the war ramping up as it hurtled towards its bloody conclusion, mass destruction of natural satellites were unavoidable. The Separatists had long learned that the violent obliteration of small moons in the midst of space battles can sometimes tip the balance in their favour – sometimes in the Republic’s. It was always an act of reckless desperation from a retreating force, something seen more frequently as of late. 

Except, this moon was not destroyed by Separatists. 

This moon wasn’t even _Thater’s_. 

To explain: Thater was a rather small world. Before the war, it lived an ignorable existence on the fringe of Republican space and was known mostly as a wayward point between adventurous spirits travelling into wild space, or for smugglers and criminals to do quick and dirty deals and exchanges. It had little to no strategic resources, no luxuries, nothing going for it except for an exhausted mine on one of its three moons. Its surface was thick jungle, filled to the brim with vicious, man-eating wildlife, tiny settlements at specific points with space ports large enough to handle cargo ships at most. 

After the war, however, its value rapidly increased. It was positioned in the perfect location to act as a staging point for space fleets, a refuelling station or a logistical hub, and the planet was trapped in an endless tug or war between Republicans and Separatists, exchanging hands almost twice a cycle at worst. Obi-Wan doubted many of the original inhabitants remained on the planet anymore. 

The broken moon – large enough that it almost rivalled Thater’s size – discharged another burst of dark red energy. Bolts erupted into its atmosphere, its inner core throbbing like a beating, molten heart, and somewhere, a tinny noise screamed on the very edge of the Force. It set Obi-Wan’s nerves on edge, a gut feeling murmuring _‘danger, danger’._

That moon. According to reports, it had simply ‘appeared’ with enough force that it destroyed the Separatist fleet holding Thater. Now the remains of the fleet drifted around the moon like a parody of an asteroid belt, and the 212th lingered out of range, too tentative and cautious to meet the same end as their Separatist counterparts.

“Have the scanners turned anything else up?” Obi-Wan asked. 

“No, sir,” Commander Cody said, “Whatever the moon is made of, the scanners can’t make heads or tails of it. It keeps classifying it as a Red Dwarf star.” 

“Which it clearly isn’t,” Obi-Wan muttered, even if the searing red core resembled a star in miniature, “Does that mean it’s showing signs of nuclear fusion? A rather primitive fuel source, if that’s the case…” 

“There is no evidence of that, sir.” 

“Hmm.”

The moon had rotated enough that its exposed core could be seen head on. The satellite resembled a cracked egg, like a catastrophic impact had shattered its crust. A meteorite? Impact from another moon? Obi-wan wasn’t sure. It looked man-made almost, but while technology had lunged in desperate leaps and bounds during this war, neither side was up to creating massive moon-sized space stations just yet for some… unknown purpose. 

The more important question, however, was how did it arrive? There were no external thrusters visible on its surface, and it hadn’t dropped out of hyperspace, despite its abrupt arrival. Some alien technology from beyond the stars? It sounded ridiculous, like a tale from a drunken freight runner, but… 

Obi-Wan exhaled noisily, coming to a decision. As much as he would like to leave the buzzing hornet’s nest alone, they couldn’t just ignore it. The Separatists would have no qualms sending a veritable army of expendable droids to carve out whatever technology they could once they came to investigate the fate of their missing fleet. As distasteful as it was, the Republic would have to plant their flag first. 

“Ready a troop transporter,” Obi-Wan ordered, “We’ll do a cursory investigation on its surface. Perhaps the scanners can pick up more in closer proximity.”

“Sir.” 

Obi-Wan turned back to the artificial moon once Cody left, trying to expand the dull sensation of dread pervading the Force. Every instinct was telling him to flee, telling him to leave this planet behind and let the Separatists have it. He could do that, yet to explain himself…

He will send a message to the Jedi Council, at least, of this anomaly in the Force. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be anything too dangerous. 

* * *

The transporter shuddered as it darted into the moon’s gravitational field, a rumbling droning through the durasteel chassis. Normally there’d be some chatter from the troopers, but this time it was utterly silent, as if the clones could sense the same thing as Obi-Wan. They possibly could. Non-Force Sensitives could still sometimes sense something wrong in the Force if it was potent enough, even if they couldn’t pinpoint why.

The closer they got to the moon, the more that _wrongness_ grew. It loomed and loomed and loomed until Obi-Wan felt almost suffocated by the sensation, his knuckles white as he clenched his hands in his lap. The Force felt _angry,_ so very angry, and on the edges of his hearing, it was as if a thousand fanged maws were gnashing and grinding and crunching. A twisted, thorny combination of _rage_ and _despair_ and _starvation._ He couldn’t sense anything beyond that _._

 _Well, if the idea was to unnerve any incoming Jedi, they’ve certain achieved their goal,_ he thought wryly, purging any anxieties trying to distract him. While he wasn’t foolish enough to ignore his unease, he couldn’t let it blind him. 

Was it Sith? What little interaction he had with those Darksiders hadn’t felt like this, though. There had been mortal malice mixed in their anger, a pettiness and viciousness only a sentient could feel. This felt deeper, like staring into the dark spaces between the stars for too long: Endless. Cold. Empty. 

Yet… not _dark._ No. It couldn’t be catagorised so simply. The answer eluded him, and Obi-Wan was too wary to delve too deeply into that noise. He shielded his mind as well as he could, focusing instead on the life signatures of his Clone Troopers, instead of the predatory hiss of the Force around him. 

(yet still, it scrabbled at the very edges of his mind, a thousand fanged maws nibbling and biting at what it could) 

* * *

They landed somewhere inside the moon’s cracked shell. A flat platform exposed to the stellar elements, yet still protected from the worst of it due to its depths. Everyone deployed with an oxygen mask, due to the incompatible atmosphere - there was oxygen, but it seemed this moon didn’t have suitable breach protocols. Whatever atmosphere was being generated was instantly being vented into space. 

“Landing pad secured,” Cody reported, after a tense, silent ten minutes where the troopers fanned out into the darkness. No emergency lights were on, their landing pad lit up only by the transporter’s lights and the clone’s blaster-torches, “No hostiles so far.”

“So far,” Obi-Wan repeated, hating how his helmet distorted his voice. He cautiously probed the Force, but everything was clouded by that persistent _noise_. He tightened up his shields again, “Has a way forward been found?”

“Straight on. Looks like blaster doors to an elevator of some sort, but there’s no power flowing through. One of the engineers are getting on it now.”

A deep, bellowing groan echoed abruptly - everyone tensed - but the noise quickly settled, a rattling of debris striking metal hissing into silence. Just the moon shifting, then. 

“...creeps…” Cody muttered very quietly, his words most unintelligible. Obi-Wan pretended not to hear. 

“Let’s see how those doors are coming along,” Obi-Wan said. He was itching to do something, rather than waiting silently in this pervading _darkness,_ lit up only by the winks of flashlights from shifting Clones. It wasn’t quiet here, either. Something metallic kept groaning, or droning, and there was a faint buzz of electricity, though where it was coming from, Obi-Wan couldn’t tell. 

He and Cody approached a pair of troopers knelt before two large blast doors sealed shut. They were quietly arguing with each other. 

“Gears, Sparks,” Cody cut through it instantly, “What’s the problem?” 

They both scrambled to their feet, shifting their weight .

“Commander Cody,” the left clone- Gears, Obi-Wan recognised - said, “We’ve got an issue with the door.”

“I can see that,” Cody said, “It’s still shut.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Sparks said, “There’s no… control panel? No wires leading into them either. Nothing to lead power _to_ them. We thought maybe they’re opened manually but they’re too heavy for that, unless the sentients who built this can lift several tonnes worth of metal.”

“Perhaps they can,” Obi-Wan mused, “Move aside. Let’s see if they’re more responsive to the Force.”

The engineers quickly side stepped out of his way, and Obi-Wan focused. He was surprised how little effort it took - the slightest press of Force, and the doors slid open neatly as they pleased. With a guttural grind of _something,_ an emergency light flickered on above the door, so blindingly white all four of them flinched. 

Beyond the doors though was their prize: an elevator.

“Hm,” Obi-Wan felt that unease creep up on him again. Something didn’t… feel right. 

“Something wrong, sir?” Cody asked. 

“No… not yet, I don’t think,” Obi-Wan murmured, “But where does this lead, do you think? I see no control panel.”

It was true. The elevator had no buttons inside, no controls. Did that mean it only travelled to one location and back to this one? Or perhaps, if the door functioned only with the Force, that the elevator did too?

“Maybe-” Cody began, but Obi-Wan didn’t hear the rest when an _awful noise_ abruptly rose from the very depths of the moon. High-pitched and deafening, like nails scratching down a chalkboard, vibrating the very air until Obi-Wan felt like his bones were going to shatter from the force of it. His vision went white-black-sideways-spotted, the noise rising until it was all he could hear as an endless _scream,_ clawing and smashing at his mental shields _._

 _youiseeyouihearyouyouyouyouletmefreeletmefreeletmefreeletmefreeletmeFREELETMEFREE_ LETMEFREELETMEFREE **Ļ̨͏̹͇͓̠͔̘̩̱̠̹̰E̵̡̳̥͔͍̫͙͔̭̯͚̗T̸̯̤͔̭̰̦͓͉͓̝͈̕͢͢M̵̧̗̟͈͎͕̫͖̕͢͠Ȩ̴̬͈̟͕̤͖͖̲̞̳͟͜F̸̛̻͇͕͇̘͙̫̬̙̠̲̣͖̰̜̙͘̕ͅR̴̸̴̬̞̦̻͕͔̖͕͈͈͎̗̝̰͉̟̥̻͞͠Ę̵̶̛̪̱͓͖͖̫̖̘̻͉̤̞̳̪̭̠͉͟ͅͅȨ̢̛̤͍̼͡T̸̷̵̵͈̼̺̣̼͚͎̫̻̖̫͖M̸̴̵̸̛͍͎͚̘̥͇̞̯͚̬͕ͅĘ̶̵̻̙̙̩̫͎̜̩̹͎̲̮̞̗̳͘F̧̲̟̳̟͉̲̞͉̙̱̣̠̹L͏̖͖͖͔̙̺̪̩͖̦͇͖̣̪̻͠R̩̯̼̼̙͈̳̳̰̬̠̲͓̣̕͟͝E̡̱̪͉̲̼̮̦̣͇̘̯̲͍̲͡ͅE̢̹̼̯͈͙̝͈̫̺̱̣̺̱͖͠**

“-ir! SIR!?”

Obi-Wan came back to himself with his hands pressed over his helmet, futilely trying to cover his ears, gasping and on his knees. It was light fighting through dark, murky water, breaking the surface of that scream. He could still hear it now, trying to sink its jaws into his legs and drag him back down. He fought it, wrenching free and slamming his shields down so hard he almost cut himself from the Force entirely. 

What. Was. _That._

“I’m fine,” he rasped, managing to get his feet back under him as he unsteadily stood back up. Cody hovered, unsurprisingly, Gears and Sparks looking ready to fistfight any threat to lunge out of the shadows, “Just had a nasty ‘hello’.”

“A hello,” Cody repeated flatly, sounding deeply unimpressed at his glib response. 

“Something through the Force reached out,” Obi-Wan explained. Stars, he felt like someone had driven a vibroblade through the base of his skull, “It seems very eager to leave this place.”

There was a pause, Obi-Wan weighing his options. The only reason that mental attack had affected him so potently was because he’d been caught off-guard, yet erosion was the way of mental warfare when it came to the Force, and as Obi-Wan tired from fending off each consequent assault, the attacker had a higher chance of success in doing… whatever it had tried to do. 

Obi-Wan liked to test the odds, but he wasn’t foolish. He’d rather not have his mind caught in the grip of some eldritch force user in the base of some alien moon, thank you very much. 

Yet… 

_freeme_

Hm. 

“Do we know the ETA on the 501st arrival?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Another day, sir,” Cody said, “They’re having to take a roundabout route on the hyperlanes.” 

“We’ll push on then,” Obi-Wan said, and lifted a hand when he practically _felt_ Cody’s frown, “If another attack flattens me, we will extract from here. I was taken off guard the first time.”

“Understood, sir,” Cody sighed. 

“Though…” Obi-Wan frowned, wondering. It had reached out to _him,_ yet there were several non-Force sensitives here, their minds open to manipulation, “Did you feel anything, Commander Cody?” 

Cody understood his meaning, and shook his head, “Nothing, sir. We only knew something was wrong when you collapsed.”

Which implied whatever needed _freeing,_ it required someone able to use the Force. He briefly considered retreating with that knowledge - the Separatists were rather sparse with trained Force Sensitives. Yet... Obi-Wan had a feeling Count Dooku wouldn’t hesitate sending Ventress in here to investigate whatever that _something_ was for his own benefit, once the Separatists became aware of this place. With this moon dripping so much malice, he might consider the risk of losing his apprentice worth whatever was trapped in here. 

_freeme_

So, it made sense for them to push on. 

_freeme_

Right?

_freeme_

Right. Of course. 

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my very first Star Wars fic. I really fucking love Star Wars, so I'm anxious to do it justice, but I also love ffxiv and quite a lot of elements in the story mesh well together (Aether = Force, Ascians = Sith, Warrior of Light = Jedi, etc, etc), but one thing I wanted to explore was how Tempering worked using Star Wars logic. For those who don't know much about ffxiv, you don't need to know much about it to follow the story. However, if you wanna know some contextual background to stuff, all you need to do is read about [Dalamud](https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Dalamud) from ffxiv, and you'll figure out which direction this story's gonna go... 
> 
> Thanks for reading, and pls leave a kudos if you liked!


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